arrived in Guangzhou

we arrived in Guangzhou last night in a driving rain and lightening storm. It was a hectic flight and luggage wrestling match before we even got on the bus. It was the usual insane driving on the highway made that much more insane by the raging storm complete with blinding lightening bolts and angry truck drivers. Completely rattled we arrived at the White Swan hotel and were relieved to find a true oasis of western comfort and decadence. The hotel is without question the swankiest of the trip so far. Richard Nixon stayed here many times. There are USA Today papers, Guiness and Hagen Daz. Damn. It almost feels like we're on vacation.

Sadie is 100% better and is no longer coughing or wheezing. She started crawling today. We're amazed and delighted. She's got a giant personality and on the plane charmed the last several rows of Chinese guys. The guys were passing her around and she was loving it. It was kind of nuts actually.

She got her first check up at a Chinese medical facility this morning. It was weird of course because of the language thing and she has a rash on her neck the I was worried might be chicken pox - oh yeah, forgot to mention there was a kid who came from a different orphanage that had chicken pox. AND THEY WERE IN THE ROOM NEXT DOOR TO US FOR 4 DAYS!. We were so pissed off when we found out. There's an MD in our group who was across the hall from the chicken pox kid and he was extremely upset as well. The kid was 'quarantined' as much as possible but we were scared she would be on our flight - thank God she wasn't. However the kid is here now in the White Swan.

Sadie's rash is not chicken pox, just heat rash. Its about 80 degrees and 110% humidity. Intense. I'm sitting in the back of souvenier store using these nice people's computer for free. I spent $42 American on stuff, fyi. I'm soaked with sweat and there's a loud fan blowing down on me. The keyboard is really sticky and all the letters are worn off. There are two girls in the front making beautiful carvings in glass. The shop girl who sold me the stuff and let me use the computer said Sadie is a "spice girl" because she comes from Jiangxi province where the food is spicy.

Anyway, Jackie says she'll write some tomorrow. There is so much to tell, it's hard to get it all out on a borrowed computer.